MEF Research and Writing

Migrants Committing Disproportionately High Crime in Germany

Originally published under the title "Migrants Committing Disproportionately High Crime In Germany While Media And Govt Focus on 'Far Right' Thought Crimes."

Last October, a German public broadcasterissued an airline-safety-style guide instructing migrants, inter alia (clockwise from top left), not to grope women, beat their children, settle disputes with violence, or harass homosexual couples.

A massive migrant crime wave is surging across Germany, according to figures buried in a new report released by the country's interior ministry. The data reveals that without migrants considered, crime rates in Germany would have remained roughly static since 2014. But, in fact, the country recorded an extra 402,741 crimes committed by migrants.

While much of this criminality concerned illegal border crossings, German authorities instead talked up a "record surge" in crimes by "right wing radicals."

Concerning statistics from the 135-page report reveal that 70 percent of pickpocketing, one of the crime types on the rise, was committed by non-Germans. Of this figure, 34 percent was committed by recent asylum seekers, with the rest committed by "non-Germans."

Foreign nationals are thought to account for around 11 or 12 percent of the total population of Germany, but were over-represented in every area of crime. Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers account for around 2.5 percent of Germany's population, but were also massively overrepresented.

Non-Germans and illegal migrants account for a massively disproportionate amount of crime in Germany.

Amongst total offences, non-Germans accounted for 27.6 percent, while illegal immigrants and asylum seekers accounted for 5.7 percent. For homicides the figures are 29.3/8.2 percent, and for sexual assaults the figures are 20.5/4.8 percent.

In all of these cases, as well as those indicated in the chart below, the proportion of crimes committed by non-Germans and illegal migrants outstripped their representation in German society. Non-Germans accounted for 38 percent of all robberies, 38 percent of thefts, and 43 percent of thefts that involved a level of aggravation such as assault or force. They accounted for 40.2 percent of burglaries, 43.5 percent of shoplifting, and a whopping 75.7 percent of pickpocketing or purse snatching.

And of migrant crimes specifically, Syrians top the list of migrant crimes that are not related to border controls, with a total of 10,348 individual offences in 2015. They also led assault cases among migrants, with 3,186 offences in 2015.

In the chart above, non-Germans are in light red while asylum seekers and illegal migrants are in deep red.

Thefts were most committed by Albanians, with 6,689 offences; Algerians come close with 5,611. Algerians almost tie with Serbians when it comes to fraud. Balkan nationals were accountable for 2,834 cases, barely above North Africans' 2,774.

Algerians top the lists for smuggling goods (2,449) and drug-selling offences (976).

Even when border control breaches are exempted from the data, the situation is still stark. Male crime is stagnant amongst Germans, but when migrants are added, male crime goes up 12 percent, with female crime rising just 6 percent. This reflects the fact that most migrants into Europe in 2015 were young men.

And the report shows that offences against the Residence Act, the Asylum Procedures Act, and the Freedom of Movement Act are up by 157.5 percent, with shopliftings up by 7.1 percent, pickpocketing up by 7.0 percent, burglary up by 9.9 percent, and drug offences up by 2.1 percent.

Presenting the report to journalists, however, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière insisted in focusing on "politically-motivated crimes by the far-right," which he said had risen 35 percent in 2015 to nearly 23,000.

"The sharp increase in politically motivated crime points to a dangerous development in society," de Maiziere told reporters at a news conference. "We are witnessing a growing and increasingly pronounced readiness to use violence, both by right- and left-wing extremists."

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière is more concerned with "politically-motivated crimes by the far-right."

But while attacks on refugee centres rose to 1,031, compared to 199 in the prior year, most of the offences appear to be what could be called "thought crime," or what police describe as "evidence that they aimed to eliminate certain constitutional principles." Of a total of 38,981 political crimes committed in 2015, some 29,681 (76.1 percent) were classed under this category.

Of real incidents, 1,031 were attacks on asylum centres, but just 177 of these were thought to be "violent," with most of the rest believed to be "propaganda" offences or vandalism.

And according to the statistics, identified left wingers have had more confrontations with police (3,507 incidents), according to the statistics, than right wingers have (1,203 incidents). Left-wing activists have confronted more right wingers (4,276 incidents) than vice versa (1,406 incidents). These incidents include public protests like those of the PEGIDA movement.

Earlier this month, when Republican Party presumptive nominee Donald Trump alleged "[L]ook at Germany, it's crime-riddled right now," organisations like Politifact were quick to crow about how immigrants accounted for fewer crimes than native Germans.

But today's statistics reveal that as a percentage of the population, non-Germans and illegal immigrants account for a massively disproportionate amount of crime in Germany.

Raheem Kassam is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum and editor-in-chief of Breitbart London. Chris Tomlinson is a journalist at Breitbart.